Fire union urged to suspend strike

Local authority leaders have urged the Fire Brigades' Union to suspend a planned strike next week.

They want the strike suspending so that negotiations can continue in a bid to resolve the long-running dispute over pay.

The two sides met at the conciliation service Acas in a fresh attempt to find a breakthrough to the deadlock.

Firefighters are due to walk out for 48 hours from next Tuesday and again from February 1 following a 24-hour stoppage this week which led to thousands of troops providing emergency cover.

Councillor Ted George, chairman of the employers, said as he arrived at the Acas headquarters in London: "We are hoping that the FBU will suspend their industrial action so that we can continue talking."

Mr George said the employers were keen to discuss their proposals for modernising the fire service with the union and to consider the FBU's own suggestions.

But the two sides remained far apart on how this could be achieved, with the employers insisting on sticking to recommendations in the Bain review of the fire service.

The union boycotted the review and warned that the report's recommendations would lead to 4,500 job cuts.

The union claimed that the employers had agreed to drop preconditions to allow the negotiations to resume.

But the employers made it clear that they had not backed down and wanted to negotiate within recommendations from the Bain report.